How to use WebBrowser control DocumentCompleted event in C#?

Before starting writing this question, i was trying to solve following

// 1. navigate to page
// 2. wait until page is downloaded
// 3. read and write some data from/to iframe 
// 4. submit (post) form

The problem was, that if a iframe exists on a web page, DocumentCompleted event would get fired more then once (after each document has been completed). It was highly likely that program would have tried to read data from DOM that was not completed and naturally - fail.

But suddenly while writing this question 'What if' monster inspired me, and i fix'ed the problem, that i was trying to solve. As i failed Google'ing this, i thought it would be nice to post it here.

    private int iframe_counter = 1; // needs to be 1, to pass DCF test
    public bool isLazyMan = default(bool);

    /// <summary>
    /// LOCK to stop inspecting DOM before DCF
    /// </summary>
    public void waitPolice() {
        while (isLazyMan) Application.DoEvents();
    }

    private void webBrowser1_Navigating(object sender, WebBrowserNavigatingEventArgs e) {
        if(!e.TargetFrameName.Equals(""))
            iframe_counter --;
        isLazyMan = true;
    }

    private void webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e) {
        if (!((WebBrowser)sender).Document.Url.Equals(e.Url))
            iframe_counter++;
        if (((WebBrowser)sender).Document.Window.Frames.Count <= iframe_counter) {//DCF test
            DocumentCompletedFully((WebBrowser)sender,e);
            isLazyMan = false; 
        }
    }

    private void DocumentCompletedFully(WebBrowser sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e){
        //code here
    }

For now at least, my 5m hack seems to be working fine.

Maybe i am really failing at querying google or MSDN, but i can not find: "How to use webbrowser control DocumentCompleted event in C# ?"

c# automation c#-2.0 webbrowser-control

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1 Answer

I have yet to find a working solution to this problem online. Hopefully this will make it to the top and save everyone the months of tweaking I spent trying to solve it, and the edge cases associated with it. I have fought over this issue over the years as Microsoft has changed the implementation/reliability of isBusy and document.readystate. With IE8, I had to resort to the following solution. It's similar to the question/answer from Margus with a few exceptions. My code will handle nested frames, javascript/ajax requests and meta-redirects. I have simplified the code for clarity sake, but I also use a timeout function (not included) to reset the webpage after if 5 minutes domAccess still equals false.

private void m_WebBrowser_BeforeNavigate(object pDisp, ref object URL, ref object Flags, ref object TargetFrameName, ref object PostData, ref object Headers, ref bool Cancel)
{
    //Javascript Events Trigger a Before Navigate Twice, but the first event 
    //will contain javascript: in the URL so we can ignore it.
    if (!URL.ToString().ToUpper().StartsWith("JAVASCRIPT:"))
    {
        //indicate the dom is not available
        this.domAccess = false;
        this.activeRequests.Add(URL);
    }
}

private void m_WebBrowser_DocumentComplete(object pDisp, ref object URL) 
{

    this.activeRequests.RemoveAt(0);

    //if pDisp Matches the main activex instance then we are done.
    if (pDisp.Equals((SHDocVw.WebBrowser)m_WebBrowser.ActiveXInstance)) 
    {
        //Top Window has finished rendering 
        //Since it will always render last, clear the active requests.
        //This solves Meta Redirects causing out of sync request counts
        this.activeRequests.Clear();
    }
    else if (m_WebBrowser.Document != null)
    {
        //Some iframe completed dom render
    }

    //Record the final complete URL for reference
    if (this.activeRequests.Count == 0)
    {
        //Finished downloading page - dom access ready
        this.domA


                        
                        
                            answered 2009-10-13T15:51:24.737

How to use WebBrowser control DocumentCompleted event in C#?

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